Friday, 19 November 2010

Big game for us tomorrow. Really looking forward to it. However what I'm not so much looking forward to is the early kick off. Lunchtime kick-offs are rubbish. Anyway, I shouldn't grumble as I'm lucky enough to be going to the game.

Samir Nasri has been talking about his relationship with William Gallas. Basically, they don't have one. They didn't speak for a year.

You would have thought that being in the same team and seeing one another every day would have made that hard but it appears not.

The two Frenchman fell out after Gallas wrote that Nasri was a disruptive influence at Euro 2008 in his autobiography.

"There were other people who didn't talk to him either. The collective cause was more ­important, though, and we got on with things.

"People called me names after Euro 2008, but they have come to see the people I had problems with at the time went on to screw things up in South Africa.

"Respect has to be mutual. Just because I was a bit younger does not mean that I have to stay quiet and accept everything."

It's also clear that Gallas didn't have much time for Kolo Toure either. The pair fell out and Toure submitted a transfer request, leaving the following summer.

It's obvious that Gallas is a divisive character. But on the pitch I don't believe he ever gave anything but his best to our cause.

That's why tomorrow I won't be booing him. I really don't see the point. He isn't Emmanuel Adebayor, who quite rightly doesn't earn the same respect from me that Gallas does.

Gallas was a professional on the pitch and wanted to win things with Arsenal. But now he's in the past. He was running out of options when he signed for Tottenham, so I don't hold that against him.

Should he be booed? That's up to each fan to make their own call. I just think in the grand scheme of things it's better to support the Arsenal rather than give those in the away end something to jump on their own bandwagon with.

"I have been talking to Arsene Wenger and he has told me the same things that he said publicly, that I have to be patient.

"He is right and I have known that all the time. I just want to play, like any other player.

"But I am aware that my team-mates have been playing well in my absence and some have been scoring goals as well, so it won't be easy for me to regain my place among the starting XI."

Which is good to read. Bendtner still has a place in the Arsenal squad. I know people don't have a lot of time for his big mouth and high opinions of himself, but I don't think that's a bad thing to have in a player.

It's just he shows that side of him more than his team mates do. And I like the fact he wants to stay and fight for his place. He is only 22 and has plenty of time ahead of him. He really could be excellent if he's prepared to work for it.